Runoff election | Lula wins presidential election in Brazil

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his vice presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin at a victory rally after winning the runoff election Photo: Ettore Chiereguini/AP/dpa Brasília.  After a spectacular race to catch up, Brazil's left-wing head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva narrowly prevailed against his right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro in the presidential runoff election and secured a fourth term in office. Lula also described his election victory on Sunday as a vote on democracy. Bolsonaro announced that he would challenge the result legally.

According to the electoral court, Lula received 51.8 percent of the vote in the runoff election, while Bolsonaro received 48.2 percent. Bolsonaro surprisingly won the first round of elections at the beginning of October with 47 percent of the vote, while Lula got 45 percent. 

The last surveys before the most recent election had still seen Bolsonaro in the lead: for the runoff election, surveys predicted 51 percent of the vote for Bolsonaro and 49 percent for Lula - a distance within the margin of error and by no means a clear trend. With his election victory, Lula managed to catch up spectacularly. The left-wing politician, who will be 81 next week, secured a fourth term in office. "Brazilians went to the polls because we managed to convince them that the election is very important for securing democracy," Lula said to cheering supporters in São Paulo. In a hoarse voice, he also thanked “the generosity of Brazilian youth,” to whom he attributed his election victory. 

The young Brazilians took to the streets between the two rounds of voting and mobilized in online networks to achieve a “virada” – as Brazilians call a comeback victory in a football game.

Bolsonaro refused to recognize Lula's victory. "It is impossible to recognize the result," said Bolsonaro in Brasília. “I will request the annulment of these elections,” Bolsonaro added. As justification, the conservative politician referred to the extension of the opening hours of the polling stations.

The judicial extension of the vote was necessary due to problems with local public transport - which presumably prevented voters from casting their votes. Supreme Court judge Cristiano Zanin highlighted the "seriousness of the incidents." 

Lula justified his call for an extension of voting by saying that buses were taken out of service in several cities on election day. Bolsonaro had also spoken out in favor of extending voting. He referred to heavy rains in the south and southeast of Brazil, where he enjoys particularly strong support.

The election in Latin America's largest economy was seen as a directional decision. Latin America has moved significantly to the right in recent years due to elections in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. A success for Flávio Bolsonaro would have further promoted the shift to the right on the continent. With Lula's victory, Brazil is now likely to remain alongside Mexico as a major left-wing bastion in the region.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was among the first leaders to congratulate Lula on his victory. "Long live democracy, the Brazilian people have won," Sheinbaum wrote on X on Sunday. "Congratulations, President Lula," she added. Lula also received congratulations from Chile's right-wing populist President José António Kast and Ecuador's right-wing head of state Daniel Noboa - both close allies of US President Donald Trump.

Lula stands for extensive social programs, climate protection through better protection of the Amazon rainforest and multilateralism. During his third term in office, unemployment in the country fell significantly and he also got inflation under control. 

Lula also made a name for himself by defying US President Trump's threats of punitive tariffs. Lula accuses the Bolsonaros of behaving "submissively" towards the USA because of their closeness to Trump. 

45-year-old Flávio Bolsonaro is the eldest son of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of an attempted coup against Lula. He sees himself as the political heir to his right-wing extremist father, but is more moderate. Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for a planned coup after his election defeat in 2022.  Agencies/nd

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